


Small, Small World

by PadaWinBaby



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Brief mention of a nameless daughter, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, brief mention of suicidal ideation, cancer mention, it's not the real one don't panic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 15:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16813579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PadaWinBaby/pseuds/PadaWinBaby
Summary: Things don't always go to plan.





	Small, Small World

Michael met Geoff one summer at a water park in Disney World. It was supposed to be his last hurrah, as he'd just found out he had terminal brain cancer and was planning on offing himself when he got back to Jersey. Geoff, though, made him realize that life was worth living, no matter what happened to you. Geoff had been through some shit himself: physical abuse, sexual abuse, an extended period of suicidal contemplation when he was a teen, and his own bout with testicular cancer that had left him impotent. But he'd kept moving forward, recording his experiences with tattoos and releasing the rage into the void. 

Six years later, Michael’s hair has finally grown back post-chemo, and he's sorting through some things while he packs for a move out West, away from the memories of illness, when he finds a note he'd almost forgotten about. You see, on Michael's last day at Disney, he and Geoff had shared the night, getting unbelievably drunk and fucking for hours. In the morning, he was alone, save for a note left on the nightstand: Geoff’s name, address, and cell number, with instructions to look him up if he were ever in Austin. Now, it's been six years, and Geoff probably thinks he's dead, if he remembers him at all, but he has to try, right? 

Too many calls, and just as many voicemails later, Michael decides to just show up at the address he'd been given. Austin was far enough West to settle, right? When he knocks on the door, a young girl answers, and when he asks after Geoff, she retreats into the house, calling for her dad. The man who comes to the door is older, sadder, and more tired, but Michael would know those eyes anywhere, even if they look like they've seen a ghost.

“I'd given up on you,” Geoff says quietly. “When I didn't hear from you in the first month, I thought you'd changed your mind and killed yourself like you were planning. I spent a year thinking of all the ways you could've done it. The year after that, I considered that maybe you just hadn't beaten the cancer. Then I gave up. Two years was too much. I did some things I'm not proud of, all with the intention of seeing you again. Two more years, gone. A year of rehab. Last year, I adopted a daughter. I spent a year being a dad and trying to relearn how to be human, and now, here you are, like a fucking ghost. What right do you have to show up, after all these years, unscathed? What right do you have to still be so beautiful? It breaks my fucking heart, because the part of me that still loves you was almost dead, and here you are, like some miracle cure! All I want right now is to punch you, then kiss you, but I'll hate myself if I do either.”

Michael doesn't know what he expected, but it wasn't that. All he wants is Geoff’s arms around him again, but so much has apparently changed between them in six years, that he feels like the threshold of Geoff’s front door may as well be an ocean, a yawning void that he's not sure he can cross. But then he whispers “I'm sorry” in this tiny, broken voice, and, against all odds, Geoff is holding him, Geoff is kissing him, and every disjointed thing in his world slams into place. They both let out a startled sigh, and Michael knows he's finally home.


End file.
